It's time to share ideas, tips, philosophies and observations on living life fully while being reflective, environmental, conscious, thrifty, humorous,
and playfully gleeful about this crazy world we share.

Friday, January 22, 2010

What I did today.

First, I went to my job, from 8 am to 1 pm. After I became untethered (a term I'll be using liberally in relation to my job), there was a decision to make.

Do I go home, and deal with the laundry, the mess left yet to have been dealt with after a weekend away? Or do I hit a thrift store?

The choice is clear.

After I decided I owed it to myself to do a bit of sale-ing, then the decision was where I'd point my vehicle.

Go one way and hit the Unique Thrift, and you kind of have to hit the Goodwill right down the street if you commit to going Unique. Go another way and stop by a place that was recently inventoried. Or go close to the house, on the way home, hopefully getting home in time not only to thrift, but to clean.

I like to multi-task. I like to mentally eliminate items from the mental To-Do list. So I went to the Englewood Goodwill, so I could do a bit of thrifting, get home in time to start a load of laundry and clean the bathroom. all before 4 pm.

And write this too, of course.

So I went in the obvious direction. The Englewood Goodwill.

I'm not particularly partial to this Goodwill. I've found a couple of really great things at this place, but getting anything good is rare. I'll post what I've found at this location at a later date - the whimsical holiday elf we call Walter, the very cool "shabby chic" table with the fringy dangly things hanging off the handles of the drawers.

I used to like this Goodwill because of the people. The cashier who had back issues. But she never really complained. It took time and familiarity to draw her out. She seemed to be a woman who compromised her potential for her family; a feature with which I could relate. She was affable, comfortable, somewhere in her '50s, smart in an intuitive kind of way. The kind of person who would be happy if you said nothing when you went through her line, and pleased if you gave a little bit of yourself she could take away.

She retired.

There's another person at this particular Goodwill I really enjoy - he's got some developmental issues, although every time I see him he tells me about a poker tournament he's been in the midst of. He's also somewhere in his '50s, I'm thinking, with big satellite-dish glasses, huge eyes and a perpetual smile. His voice is monotone, even when he talks about his passion, which is poker, of course. Sometimes he shows me the certificates he's received from winning or placing in a match.

The former endearing Goodwill employee obviously wasn't there today. She retired. The latter wasn't working today. He was probably playing poker.

So I was on my own today. And it had to be fast. My boys were coming home before they left for the weekend. My man was expected shortly after.

So I perused. I quickly found a great collection of very heavy, very cool Cambridge flatware. No spoons. But at 10 cents a piece, I couldn't really pass them up. Mr. Fabulous (my man) had found some flatware we'd sold for a whole lot of money, and this was similar, so I snagged what was available.

I found a 1997 Starbucks Colorado travel mug. Perfect condition. What's the history there? Someone got it as a gift and, after over a decade, decided to relinquish it to Goodwill?

I found a cast iron corn stick maker. USA and B on the back. I need to do a bit of research, but I think it may be worth a bit of ching. My son (Logan, the cook) suggested we fill each of the seven areas with meaty items, which wouldn't show the corn pattern imprinted into the cast iron, but would be cool.

Did I mention that I sell stuff on line? Ebay, particularly? I'm a single mom, for god's sake. I need extra income. Why not tap into my love of the thrift and make a few extra bucks?

But that's yet to be revealed.

Today was good. It was nice to get away a bit after my untethering, and although there were no Goodwill folk to entertain or update me, I was in my own head for a few minutes. I hit the ground running when I got home, getting set for seeing one set of my loved ones leave and welcoming another.

Everyone has their place to disengage, to get away, to be around many while being alone. I got a slice of that world today, on my way home from work.